A child's death has been linked to a pigeon dropping infection at a Glasgow hospital.

The youngster died in December after contracting Cryptococcus caused by a large amount of excrement at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

A post-mortem on the child found the bacteria was both present and a contributory factor.

An elderly patient died of other causes having also caught Cryptococcus. That patient was discharged for palliative care in November but later died in December.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman confirmed the child's death in a statement to the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday. The Scottish Government was informed on December 21.

She said: "In December a post-mortem of a child who has passed away conformed that Cryptococcus was both present and a contributory factor in their death."

Pigeons got into the hospital through a hole in 12th-floor room containing machinery, which is not open to the public.

Freeman told MSPs at Holyrood: "The government was first informed of the Cryptococcus in two patients on December 21.

"That was the right time for the government to be informed because it was the post-mortem following the death of the child identified in the second case and, as I said, that second case is the trigger for additional infection control action and we were rightly informed.

"I'm confident the board has taken all steps that it should do to ensure and maintain patient safety in light of the incident."

Freeman met officials and patients at the hospital on Tuesday morning. She said a review into the construction and design of the building will be carried out.

She added: "In investigating the source of this bacteria, the staff at the hospital traced it to a plant room on the 12th floor, the rooftop of the building, where invisible to the naked eye, there was a very small break in the wall of the plant room.

"In that small break, pigeons entered the plant room and excrement was found there.

"That was found by smoke detection and what they continue to work on is how the bacteria from the excrement could enter a closed ventilation system."

She continued: "I am satisfied that the board and the staff in this hospital have undertaken every possible step that they could do to ensure patient safety and to ensure that that is maintained."

The Scottish Conservatives said there were still questions to be answered over the deaths.

Glasgow MSP Annie Wells said: "The fact one of these deaths involved a child makes this all the more tragic.

"This is simply not the kind of scenario that should be unfolding in Scotland in the 21st century, and absolutely not at such an expensive and newly built facility.

"The Scottish Government was informed of this before Christmas.

"Families will now want reassurance that ministers moved to address this problem immediately, rather than waiting almost a month when it became public knowledge.

"We owe it to the families involved to find out exactly what happened here, as well as the many staff, patients and visitors who use the hospital."

Labour health spokeswoman Monica Lennon said the public would be "shocked" to learn one of those who had died was a child as she claimed there had been a "complete lack of clarity" from the health board.

Ms Lennon said: "I think the people of Scotland will feel it is absolutely extraordinary that in a modern hospital, Scotland's flagship and apparently super hospital no less, we have a situation where pigeons and infections can kill patients.

"If this unthinkable and deadly infection can happen at the flagship Queen Elizabeth, what is to stop it happening at other hospitals?"